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Development and Planning

Ecological Assessments, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Planning Application support
 
Due to recent amendments of legislation which improve the UK’s adherence to the EU Habitats Directive, all planning applications in the UK are now required to be supported by an ecological assessment.
 
The level of detail required for these assessments is dependent on the scale of the proposed development and the expected environmental impacts.
 
In some cases, a simple site visit and brief ecological assessment report is all that is needed to support the planning application, in other cases, more extensive species surveys and mitigation measures are required.
 
When dealing with ecology, it is important to plan ahead because certain surveys and mitigation works can only be carried out at particular times of year (for instance ponds can only be surveyed for newts during the spring). Expensive delays can be avoided by early planning.
 
Gould Ecology can provide advice regarding the legal requirements of development projects and manage the provision of all ecological surveys, assessments and mitigation works that may be necessary.

BREEAM/ Code for Sustainable Homes
 
BREEEAM and the 'Code for Sustainable Homes' (Code) are environmental assessment methods for buildings and developments. They cover a range of categories of which 'ecology' is one. Others include energy, water, minerals, surface water run-off, waste, pollution, health and wellbeing and management.
 
All new homes must now have a 'Code' rating (as of May 2008). Developments must gain a certain number of 'credits' across all areas in order to qualify.
 
To gain full credits for the ecology section requires the involvement of a 'suitably qualified ecologist' to prepare a report.
 
This involves a pre-development survey to establish the existing ecological value of the site and to identify any protection measure required for existing ecological features.
 
Measures for ecological enhancement can be identified and the change in ecological value of the site is assessed.
 
To gain the maximum credits for ecology, it is essential to begin at the planning stage - ensure that a pre-development survey is done and ecological enhancements are written in to the project design.
 

Main image: Natterjack Toad (by Bob Perry).